Paint Effects

I don't know about you but I have got quite a collection of paints in my stash collection but I often struggle to think how to use them on my pages other than painting chipboard. Nat has used the gorgeous Lily Bee Audrey range to create this page and to make a clearer background for her journaling she has applied a layer of acrylic paint over the patterned paper. She has only applied a thin layer so that the pattern still shows through but allows the alphabet stickers to stand out from the patterned paper.

Jenni Bowlin

I thought you might like to see another of the fab pages that Nat has created using Jenni Bowlin Front Porch papers.
"I used some machine stitching on this page to tie in with the home-spun feel of the papers. To echo this, I added some doodled stitches to the Thickers. I used some Pink Paislee rub-ons on some textured cream cardstock to create embellishments, which I clustered with ribbon, buttons, and velvet trim to finish the page. The red Dew Drops were the perfect addition to lead your eye from the photo to the embellishment details in the bottom left corner."

Botanique

American Craft have brought out some stunning new lines this season one of which is the Botanique range. This range is full of gorgeous floral papers with co-ordinating chipboard, ribbons and alphabets. Vanessa has created two stunning layouts and a mini book.

Vanessa has cut out butterflies and flowers from the papers to create her own embellishments.

Creating your own flowers can be really simple, roughly cut out some circles and distress the edges. Layer the circles up and secure them together through the middle using a brad, scrumple the papers up around the brad until you are happy with how it looks.

Don't forget this months challenge, create a page using up some of your old stash and be in with a chance of winning a £10 e-voucher and the opportunity to join the design team and produce and example layout for the May challenge.

March Challenge

We thought that this month we would set a slightly different challenge, I am sure all of us are guiltly of having huge stash mountains a lot of which we have totally forgotten that we had, even though we desperately needed it at the time!
So our challenge to you is to create a page using up some of that old, forgotten stash that is lurking in your craft room. As always there is a great prize for the winning page, a £10 e-voucher and a chance to join the design team and create an example layout for the May challenge. All you have to do is post a link to your layout on the blog or email your page across to sarah@sarahscardsltd.com by Monday 12th April.
We have been joined this month by Tracee who was our winner in January, she has produced this lovely page.

A few of the design team have also created layouts using up some of their old stash.

Cathy

Rachel

Cal

Rachael

We hope you enjoy this challenge and you never know you may find some stash that you totally forgot you had!

Sketch Challenge Winner

We have a winner of the February sketch challenge, Lythan with her layout entitled "we failed the grown up test" Well done Lythan all the design team loved your use of colour. Drop us a line and we will get your £10 e-voucher to you plus details of the April challenge.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered the challenge it is great seeing how many different layouts can be created from the same sketch. This months challenge is going to be a little bit different so watch this space, it will be going live in a few days time.

What a weekend!

I think we have all just about recovered for our weekend away, we all had an amazing time and it is all thanks to these two lovely ladies, Lianne and Sarah.

For those of you who didn't get to the retreat I thought you might like to see the classes that were taught by the design team.

Sarahs class involved creating two 8.5x11 layouts which in itself was something a lot of scrappers hadn't done, she also used paint, stitching and showed how a film strip of photos can be used with great results on a page.

Lou's class was full of tearing, crumpling, inking and ribbling, each kit came with a woodware ribbler so expect to see a lot of ribbled papers on our layouts in future!

I think sometimes we tend to stick with what we know and produce layouts but Cathy showed us how to produce a stunning mini book using lots of gorgeous Pink Paislee papers and fancy pants acrylic shapes.

I wanted to create a class showing how easy it is to add lots of depth and dimension to your pages by layering, inking, distressing and giving way to raise elements of your page.

Lianne's class involved using a crafters template, masking and lots of paint dabbers. The result was stunning.

And finally Jen who taught a beautiful class that involoved adding a mini book onto a layout.

Even if the classes weren't your style there was a technique that could be taken away and used over and over again in each class.

Friday is the deadline for your sketch challenge enteries so keep them coming in, now the design team are back from the retreat we will be looking through all your enteries and picking a winner who will recieve a £10 e-voucher and be invited to join the team to design an example layout for another challenge. Just post a link to your entry or email it over to sarah@sarahscardsltd.com by the 12th March to be in with a chance of winning.

Whoo Loves You?

When I am starting out creating a layout one of the first thing that I decide on is what papers I want to use. Have you ever thought of creating a page not using any patterned papers? I decided to give it a go!
To create this page all I have used is a sheet of dotted swiss, My Little Shoebox die cut accesory sheet and transparent overlay, Aunty Sarahs Dew Drops, glossy accents and silicone glue.
Special Friends





















How To
1. Choose two of the die cut journaling blocks and cut out the centres to create two frames. Stick the frames over your two chosen photos. Keep the middle sections as you will need them later.
2. Punch out the two scalloped strips and stick them down the left hand side of your page.
3. Cut two of the scalloped journaling blocks in half so you now have four pieces to use on your layout, take the two middles from earlier and your framed photos, arrange them on your page where you are happy with them.
4. Glue them onto your layout using your usual glue and silicone glue so that you can vary the levels that they sit on your page.
5. Cut out the Special Friends from the transparent overlay, using a black sharpie pen outline "special" so that it stands out against the pale die cuts.
6. Fix them onto your page using a small amount of glossy accents on each letter.
7. Punch out the two die cut hearts, give them a covering of glossy accents and add a dew drop before the accents dries. When the accents has completely dried add them onto your page using silicone glue.
8. Add a couple of flowers from the transparent sheet.
9. For added detail I have gone over the dots on each of the die cuts with glossy accents.





















On this layout I have used the die cuts along with the patterned papers, I love how the shapes are so versatile and I was able to create a sun, cloud and hedges for my page.
Whoo Loves You?

We have got an exciting weekend ahead with the first Sarahs Cards Retreat in Warrington, hopefully we will be able to bring you a few of the highlights over the next week so watch this space!

Lily Bee

I thought you would like to see some more fantastic layouts that Nat has created, she has been using Audrey papers by Lily Bee. This range is full of papers with beautiful bold designs which Nat has used with stunning results.

Gramps

Precious Moments

Don't forget our sketch challenge, you have until the 12th March to leave a link to your layout in the comments box or email your page across to sarah@sarahscardsltd.com. You could win a £10 e-voucher and a chance to create an example page along with design team that will appear on the blog. We have had some gorgeous enteries so far and we are really enjoying having a look at what you have all done with the sketch.